Delayed Delivery
The last thing Tim Bogar wanted was his name to be uttered in the same breath as Wendell Kim and Dale Sveum. With the score knotted at one run a piece in the bottom of the sixth, Kevin Youkilis on first, no outs, and the crowd feverishly chanting “Papi,” Bogar sent his first baseman home on David Ortiz’s ringing double down the left field line.
Return to sender, address unknown. No such number, no such zone.
Fortunately other deliveries went well. Josh Beckett has steadily improved since his season-opening clunker, turning in a sparking 7 innings pitched, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 base on balls, and 8 strikeouts. Jonathan Papelbon not only pitched a near-perfect ninth before the game was suspended (only allowing a single runner to reach on a walk), but he and his wife Ashley welcomed their second child (Gunner Robert weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 21 inches, or a tad bigger than Mike Cameron’s kidney stone must have felt).
Ortiz led off the ninth tonight and the chants returned. He nearly won the game with a fly ball to the right that had the distance but was pulled foul. In the eleventh he took the box again, this time with the bases loaded and none out. Fangraphs hasn’t updated this game yet, but the Red Sox’s win probability must have been in the mid-90s in this inning.
Joe Maddon fastidiously arranged his defense, calling in Ben Zobrist to overload the right side of the infield with Reid Brignac and Carlos Pena, arrayed Evan Longoria and Jason Bartlett on the left, and pulled in the two outfielders. The unorthodox alignment worked twice: Ortiz grounded out to Pena and the Rays got the force at home for the first out, and Adrian Beltre grounded out to Evan Longoria for a 5-3 double play.
While Boston’s offense sputtered Daniel Bard carried forward his colleagues’ impressive performances. The set-up ace took the mound in the top of the tenth and dazzled for two perfect innings.
The final delivery came off Pat Burrell’s bat courtesy of Manny Delcarmen. It was like the parcel Detective David Mills received at the end of “Seven” but less shocking, given the horror that Delcarmen’s pitching inspires.
| Game 10: April 16 and 17, 2010 ∙ 12 innings | ||
 Rays7-3 | 3 | W: Lance Cormier (2-0) S: Rafael Soriano (3) |
| 2B: Reid Brignac (1) HR: Pat Burrell (1) | ||
| Red Sox 4-6 | 1 | L: Manny Delcarmen (0-1) |
| 2B: David Ortiz (4), Jason Varitek (1) HR: Jason Varitek (3) | ||
